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>> More data.>> Happy Birthday sir.>> As far as festivities go it's a muted affair. The EU marking it's 25th birthday at a conference in the Netherlands, but not really in the mood for a party.>> Every year on the 9th of December I turn one year older.

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>> The bloc's never been at such risk of complete collapse. Battling crises on numerous fronts as it struggles to deal with the refugee influx, security threats, and Brexit.>>

NOISE]>>

It was a very different world in 1991, when European leaders gathered in the Dutch city Maastricht.

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There they signed a treaty introducing the idea of European citizenship and laying the groundwork for a shared currency. It marked the transition from an economic union, the EEC, to the more political EU. For many British conservatives, it was one step too far. Creating divisions which only deepened with time, and this year bubbled over.